George Clooney: A Partner in Christian Aid?

03-14-2012
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Fresh from his appearance on Capitol Hill, George Clooney sat down with CBN News to discuss his recent trip to the border of Sudan and South Sudan. His testimony before Washington lawmakers can hardly be reduced to some "bit part" cameo from the latest Hollywood star to take up a cause because it's in vogue.

When it comes to Sudan, Clooney has earned credibility. He, along with John Prendergast of the Enough Project, co founded the Satellite Sentinel Project to monitor threats to people living along the border. He joined the humanitarian movement with the campaign to save Darfur.

Since then, he has continued to raise awareness, first drawing attention to the potential for civil war in the run-up to the referendum for South Sudan's vote for independence - and now documenting atrocities committed against the people of Sudan's Nuba Mountains. (Muslim leaders from the North have declared "jihad," or holy war, against the black, mostly Christian Nuban population.)

Clooney told CBN News that he's inspired by the role of Christian aid groups that offer hope and relief to the suffering. He also mentions working with CBN founder Pat Robertson.

Read the transcript below.

“This particular region has been one of the great causes of people of faith. If you go and look at the NGO's that are there -- it's Samaritan's Purse -- there's amazing work being done and has been done for years -- generations, actually. They lead the work a lot of times here. When we were at the Darfur rally it was ministers. It was a lot of people of faith that had been working very hard on this. So in some ways I'm trying to honor whatever part I can in the hard work that they do, because I'm a big fan of all of the work that's being done. And people really put their hearts and souls in it. So it's important for me.

"When Bono was doing his One campaign, that's when I met Pat Robertson. And what happened -- it was interesting. I said to Bono, 'Who do you have from sort of the Christian world?' And he was like, 'I don't know.' And I said, 'What about Pat Robertson?' Now, you know, Pat and I don't particularly agree on a whole lot of things, as you can imagine. That's okay. That's what makes the world go around. So I called him up, and I said, 'Listen, we're not going to agree on too many things, but there's no two sides to this issue, and you and I can work together on this.' And he said great. And he's been terrific on this.

"And, so I find that what happens oftentimes is all this rhetoric gets raised with people when you will say, well, how about working this community? I don't even think of it as a community. I think of all of us as a community. And I think we all have our beliefs and our political views, all that stuff. But we're still a community. Those Nuban people are every bit as much a part of us as anyone else. They're our family. And, for every one of those innocent people that are hurt, it's us that's hurt. So I'm proud to be a part of all of those communities.”

Note: other portions of the interview will air in an upcoming CBN News story.

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